


Wordpicture: Lex Luthor

by Deannie



Series: Wordpictures [1]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-07-14
Updated: 2003-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-19 06:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deannie/pseuds/Deannie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He never wanted to be his father's son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wordpicture: Lex Luthor

He'd never wanted to be his father's son.  


He had the mind of a scientist, and the heart of a dreamer... Alexander Luthor knew he was capable of brilliance. Some are born to greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them.  


Lex knew himself to be the former.  


And yet, it was all somehow difficult. From birth, he should have been a god--would have been, too. But there had been his health and then the meteor shower and his mother and so many, many things. And, of course, his father. Ah yes, never forgetting the famed Lionel Luthor...  


There was something wrong with Lionel. Something that had never been discussed in the psychology texts that Lex had all but devoured in college. Something dark and sinister and cold and ruthless. And vulnerable. Dear God, Lionel needed, more than anything, to be the best.  


And being the best meant having a son who was the best. No grade was ever good enough, no prize worth its weight in gold nor silver. When Lionel Luthor looked at his son, he saw a failure. Bald and slim and weak and just a bit too caring, it seemed that Lex was nothing like his father, no matter how Lionel might try to coax him in the right direction.  


And all of this was, to an extent, a planned rebellion. Lex knew his father's weaknesses, and exploited them shamelessly--the one lesson his father had taught him well. When Lionel needed a strong, ruthless son, Lex was suddenly weak and compassionate. When Lionel needed power, Lex was powerless. He fought the labels, fought the image of himself in Lionel's head.... Because it wasn't his father's head he cared about.  


"You're your mother's son, Lex," his father used to say, long after Lillian's death. "You've got a soft heart."  


It was an insult. Pure and simple. But Lex reveled in it. He _wanted_ to be Lillian's son. He wanted to be good _and_ great.  


But standing beneath a broken streetlamp in Metropolis, the gun cooling in his hand as the body cooled in his shadow, Lex realized that he'd failed himself in ways his father could only imagine.  


And _that_ , he had no doubt, would have made his father proud. 

* * *  
The End


End file.
